The importance of growth promotion testing.

Before a new batch of culture media can be used for any一 microbiological tests,particularly under pharmaceutical industryregulations,it must be properly tested for its ability to ensure consistent and reliable results.

Central to this is growth promotion testing (GPT), so what are some of the key points around this important test?

Microbiological media considerations Culture media still lies at the core of most microbiological testing, even in the advent of rapid microbiological methods. Given the fact that media is essential to pharmaceutical quality control testing,including environmental monitoring (EM), sterility testing (ST),as well as process and operator validation,it is important that it is of good quality and performs properly.

A pre-requisite for any reliable microbiological work, as highlighted by ISO 11133:2014, is that culture media must meet established performance criteria to ensure accuracy of results as so many key pharmaceutical QC tests and procedures depend on them.Therefore, sufficient testing should be carried out to demonstrate:The acceptability of each batch of medium ;The medium is “fit for purpose;The medium can produce consistent results

Just as contaminated media may produce false positive results,if media does not properly support organism growth,false negative results can also be obtained undermining the validity of any pharmacopoeial tests. Given the fact that in a sterile pharmaceutical environment the vast majority of microbiology assays should result in no growth,it must be demonstrated that the media used could support growth if microorganismswerepresent.Kegardlessor whether it is purchased from an external supplier or manufactured in house, it is considered best practice to undertake in hous growth promotion testing on all batches of prepared media before use.

Following equipments for your mutiple choice from OLABO.

Co2 incubator, it can be used for the culture of common microorganisms.

Biological safety cabinet, protect the safety of laboratory personnel and samples.

Medical refrigerator/freezer, for storaging the Petri dish sample.